University News

Visiting Professor from France to Deliver May 21 Lecture Comparing Icarian Community to European Union

May 15, 2013

MACOMB, IL — A faculty member from the University of Reims Law School in Champagne, France, will deliver "European Union: Icarian or Banana Republic?" at noon, Tuesday, May 21 at the Western Illinois University Leslie F. Malpass Library, room 180.

Theodore Georgopoulos, an associate professor of law and the director of the Wine and Law Program at the University of Reims Law School, will be on the WIU-Macomb campus May 20-22 visiting the Baxter-Snyder Center for Icarian Studies at the Western Illinois University Archives and Special Collections Unit (on the sixth floor of the Malpass Library) to conduct research about law in the Icarian colonies.

The Baxter-Snyder Center for Icarian Studies at WIU was established in 1977 to bring together in one location material dealing with, or written by, this utopian community. The Icarians, a group of mostly middle class French idealists led by Etienne Cabet (1788-1856), attempted to establish a communistic society in Nauvoo (IL) in the 1850s. The group settled in Nauvoo on the Mississippi River after the Mormons departed.

In his lecture, Georgopoulos will link the Icarian experience with contemporary questions and will describe the current political situation in Europe and the failure of the integration dream by comparing it to the Icarian adventure of the 19th century. Georgopoulos will speak for approximately 20 minutes and will field questions about his research and work in France.

The lecture is open free to the public and attendees are encouraged to bring their lunches.

For more information, contact WIU Baxter-Snyder Professor of Regional and Icarian Studies Jeff Hancks at (309) 298-2717. Learn more about the Baxter-Snyder Center for Icarian Studies at www.wiu.edu/libraries/archives/icarian_center/.